


hey there, baby, it's just textbook stuff

by folignos



Category: Hockey RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-21
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-26 10:50:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2649257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/folignos/pseuds/folignos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The fire alarm is going off.</p><p>It takes Jo a couple of seconds to realise that the incessant shrieking in his ear is not actually part of his dream, but is a precursor to a sudden and fiery death. Across the room, Zach is stumbling around looking for pants. </p><p>[A college AU involving a temperamental fire alarm, a less than helpful room-mate, an aggressive biology text book and a disastrous sushi date]</p>
            </blockquote>





	hey there, baby, it's just textbook stuff

**Author's Note:**

  * For [valmerteuil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/valmerteuil/gifts).



> it's laura's birthday!!!!! so i wrote jo/nate fluff because she's a delightful ray of sunshine every day and i love her to bits
> 
> also my last jo/nate fic made her sad so this is an apology.
> 
> title from ingrid michaelson's speeding cars
> 
> follow me on [tumblr](http://toewses.tumblr.com) for more hockey fun!

The fire alarm is going off.

It takes Jo a couple of seconds to realise that the incessant shrieking in his ear is not actually part of his dream, but is a precursor to a sudden and fiery death. Across the room, Zach is stumbling around looking for pants.

‘It’s three seventeen am,’ Jo says.

‘Why is this happening?’ Zach moans, pulling a pair of shorts on and toeing into flip flops.

Jo pulls a hoody on over his t-shirt. ‘I don’t know,’ he says. ‘But the building had better be literally on fire.’

They troop downstairs with the rest of the kids in the dorm, bleary eyed, half dressed, grumbling in French and English.

The building is not on fire. It’s raining.

There is one kid standing in a towel, looking incredibly guilty. Jo scowls.

The sensors in this building are so sensitive that even steam will set them off. There are signs on all the bathroom doors saying ‘Please ensure the bathroom door is shut when the shower is on, you WILL set the alarm off otherwise.’

WILL is even underlined. Twice.

‘Who showers at three am?’ Zach says, trying to stand as close to Jo as possible and leech all his body heat, apparently.

‘That kid, clearly,’ Jo says, slipping into French. ‘Who is he, anyway? He looks familiar.’

‘He was at hockey tryouts yesterday, I think,’ Zach says, slipping into French just as easily. ‘Forward. Anglo.’

‘He must be a goalie,’ Jo grumbles, ignoring Zach’s token protest. ‘Only a goalie would be this useless.’

Zach opens his mouth to complain again.

‘Zach, yesterday you locked yourself out of our room three times.’

Zach pulls a face at him, but the fire warden arrives to turn off the alarm before he can protest more, and as soon as it’s silent, and all they can hear is the rain, and the shuffles of feet eager to get in out of the rain, he’s gone, pushing his way through the crowd of sleepy sophomores.

Jo falls asleep easily enough once he’s changed out of his damp sweats, but when his alarm goes off three hours later, he hates his life all over again.

‘Turn it off, turn it off,’ Zach mumbles from where he’s buried under all the covers in the world. ‘Not all of us have eight am classes, some of us want to sleep until a reasonable, human time.’

He’s already fallen asleep again when Jo gets out of the bathroom (door kept tightly shut through his entire shower, because he’s not an idiot), but he wakes up when Jo knocks into the foot of his bed on the way out.

‘If you love me, you’ll bring me coffee after class,’ Zach says, opening one eye and looking at Jo.

‘Good thing I don’t love you then, isn’t it,’ Jo says, but makes a mental note to stop by the campus coffeeshop after his lecture.

-

‘I’m going to murder someone,’ Jo says, digging under his desk for a left shoe. ‘I swear to every god imaginable.’

On their way out of the building, they pass a kitchen and hey, there’s smoke coming out of it.

‘Looks like a legit fire then,’ Zach says. ‘And at least it’s not three am. Or--’

‘If you want to survive the night, you will not say the word raining. Do not say it, Zachary. I will murder _you_.’

‘I was only saying,’ Zach mutters.

The same kid from before is outside, fully dressed this time, but looking distinctly shifty.

‘What did you do this time?’ Jo asks him, on the way past. The kid jumps.

‘Nothing?’ he tries. Jo looks at him.

‘I wanted popcorn,’ the kid says, ducking his head. ‘I followed the instructions on the package, I don’t know where I went wrong?’

‘Microwave popcorn _is_ tricky,’ Zach says, clapping him on the shoulder. ‘Maybe you should leave it to the experts.’

‘Hey, I know you,’ the kid says. ‘Aren’t you the goalie for the hockey team?’

Zach preens. Jo rolls his eyes.

‘Yeah, he is. We don’t know why we keep him around,’ Jo says. ‘You were at tryouts the other day, right?’

The kid nods. ‘Nate. Center.’

Jo holds out his hand. ‘Jo, left wing. Zach, goalie slash mental case.’

‘Is there a difference?’ Nate asks, and then looks worried, like he’s overstepped. Zach barks out a laugh, and hits him in the shoulder again.

‘I like this kid,’ Zach says. ‘We gonna let him live?’

‘Depends,’ Jo says, darkly. ‘Is he gonna keep making microwave popcorn unsupervised when some of us are trying to study?’

‘No?’ Nate says, looking unsure.

Jo grins, suddenly. ‘Then we’re good, man.’

The alarm shuts off, and the students start shuffling back into the building slowly.

‘Hey,’ Nate says, when Jo turns away. ‘I guess I’m ordering pizza tonight. You want some? Meal plan works for the pizza place on the other side of campus.’

‘Well, I’d love to, but I have a paper due in--’ Zach looks at his watch. ‘Ten hours that I have yet to start. Next time, dude.’

‘I’d be up for pizza,’ Jo offers. His stomach rumbles, a if in agreement. ‘I might have forgotten to eat dinner.’

‘I thought you were supposed to be the capable one,’ Nate says, teasing. Jo grins.

‘I'm not allowed one slip up?’

They start moving inside. Nate’s room is on the ground floor, just by the stairs. He fistbumps Zach in farewell, and steps inside. It’s worryingly neat, no clothes on the floor, nothing spread across the desk, bed made.

Jo doesn't think he’s made his bed since he moved in two weeks ago.

‘Now,’ Nate says. ‘The ultimate question. Pineapple on pizza. Yes, or no? This entire friendship hangs in the balance,’ he says, dramatically, perching on his chair and flipping his laptop open.

Jo grins.

-

‘Oh my god,’ Zach says. ‘God hates me. God knows about that time I stole a candy bar from my little brother, and he’s punishing me for it now.’

Jo picks up his phone and dials Nate. ‘What did you do?’ he asks when Nate picks up.

‘This time it wasn’t my fault!’ Nate says, defensively. ‘Really!’

Jo says nothing. Waits.

‘Toast,’ Nate says, eventually. ‘But I didn’t even know the grill was turned on! The person who used it before me must have turned it on. I’m a victim, I promise!’

Jo hangs up, and heads for the stairs. At least it’s not night time, he thinks, like one thirty in the afternoon is a much more reasonable time for a fire alarm.

Nate is perched on his usual wall in a toque. ‘You’re an idiot,’ Jo says, as he approaches. ‘Who doesn’t know whether the grill is on or not?’

‘Me, apparently,’ Nate says, sheepish. ‘Wanna get lunch? My treat?’

‘You’re lucky Jo thinks you’re cute,’ Zach says, before winking at Jo and vanishing off to pounce on Clarkey. Jo watches him go, and then turns back to Nate, who looks just as bewildered.

‘I never said that,’ Jo says, reflexively. ‘Not that I think you’re not cute, I’m sure you’re very cute… to… some people… lunch?’ he finishes, flushing.

Nate grins, and jumps off his wall. ‘It’s okay,’ he says. ‘I think you’re cute too.’

Jo’s face gets hotter, and he just follows Nate towards campus.

-

What do you think you’re doing?’ Jo asks, standing in the doorway.

Nate has a frying pan in one hand, and his phone in the other, and looks about as guilty as someone banned from the kitchen should look.

‘Making breakfast?’ he asks.

‘Not even a little bit,’ Jo says, taking the frying pan off him.

‘But I’m hungry,’ Nate whines.

Jo rolls his eyes, and goes for the fridge.

‘You’re my favourite person,’ Nate says, dropping into one of the chairs around the table. ‘Don’t tell my mom.’

-

‘Are me and Nate dating?’ Jo asks Zach.

Zach starts laughing.

After a minute and a half, Jo throws a book at him.

‘You haven’t eaten lunch with anyone else in three weeks,’ Zach says, holding up one finger. ‘You walk to every single hockey practice together. You cook for him. You watched Dear John in his room together and pretended not to cry. You fell asleep on his bed. This is the longest conversation we’ve had in a week and a half, and it’s about him.’ Zach pauses and looks at his free hand. ‘Wait, I’ve run out of fingers.’ He puts his phone down and holds his other hand up, opens his mouth as if to continue speaking.

‘Okay, okay,’ Jo says. ‘I get your point.’ He pauses. ‘What do I do now?’

‘Tell him that you want to hold hands and kiss his face and continue to do all that dumb stuff. Except maybe don’t watch Dear John again. Your face gets all puffy when you cry, it’s really unattractive.’

Jo throws another book.

‘Hey, don’t shoot the messenger,’ Zach says. ‘Or throw your bio textbook at him, _ow_. Have you talked to Nate about this?’

‘...No.’ Jo says. He sits up. ‘Should I?’

‘You’re a dumbass,’ Zach says. ‘And that’s coming from the guy who forgot to take his skate guards off his skates on two separate occasions this week.’

Jo flops back onto his bed. And then his phone beeps with a text.

‘Speak of the devil,’ Zach mutters, going back to dicking around on his own phone.

‘Shut up,’ Jo says, but it is indeed Nate.

_lunch??? :) xxx_

He looks up at Zach. ‘We’re totally dating,’ he says, mournfully.

‘And the penny drops,’ Zach says, not looking up. ‘Go find lover boy, he probably wants to get sushi with you again.’

Jo sighs, but shoves a jacket on, texts Nate _meet u outside in 5_ and starts hunting down his shoes.

-

‘Are we dating?’ Jo asks.

Nate looks at him like he’s grown a second head. In Jo’s defence, he had waited until they were seated in the sushi bar and Nate was watching the belt go past. ‘Um,’ Nate says. His eyes are a little wide, a little worried.

‘Never mind,’ Jo says quickly. His cheeks are warm, and he grabs at the belt, picking the first plate he sees off it. Prawn. He hates prawns. He separates his chopsticks anyway, picks up a little dish, and he’s about to go for the soy sauce when nate picks it up, moves it out of reach.

‘Do you want to be dating?’ Nate asks.

‘Never mind,’ Jo repeats. ‘It was a dumb question.’ He makes another move for the soy sauce. ‘Nate.’

Nate hands over the soy sauce, but takes the prawns away, replacing them with the avocado-wasabi maki he knows Jo loves. ‘You excited for the game tomorrow?’ he asks, a few minutes later.

Jo nods through a mouthful of rice. ‘We’re gonna kick the Remparts’ ass,’ he says, holds out his first for a bump. Nate hesitates for a second, but grins and fistbumps him.

Jo feels out of sorts for the rest of the meal, doesn’t even bicker when Nate tries to pay for it at the end, and they walk back to the dorm mostly silently.

‘I’ll, uh, I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess,’ Nate says. He looks oddly sad. Jo ducks his head.

‘Yeah, tomorrow. Me and Zach’ll walk to the rink with you?’

‘Sure,’ Nate says. There’s a weird tone to his words. Jo feels like an asshole.

‘Cool,’ he says. Nate echoes it, and then Jo takes off, heading for the stairs. He hears Nate’s door click open and closed, and sighs.

-

‘I fucked up,’ he says as soon as he’s back in his own room. Zach is in the bathroom.

‘I’m shocked,’ he says. ‘What dumb thing did you say this time?’

‘I asked Nate if we were dating, and he went all quiet and like, wide eyed at me, like a baby deer. It felt like I’d kicked his grandma.’

‘I can’t believe you’re an honour student,’ Zach says, throwing a damp towel at him on the way out of the bathroom.

‘And then I was like, never mind, and he asked if I wanted to be dating, and I pretty much ignored that and him for the rest of the meal. It was a disaster.’

‘Drama queen,’ Zach says mildly.

‘Ugh,’ Jo says. ‘We have to play together tomorrow. It’s going to be a nightmare.’

‘You’re a nightmare,’ Zach says darkly.

‘I know,’ Jo says, falling backwards to sprawl on his bed.

-

Their line is held scoreless for the game. They win, somehow, but Nate takes a dumb penalty and Jo doesn’t make a single pass on anyone’s tape all game.

It’s an unmitigated disaster.

-

‘Your boyfriend is a dead man,’ Zach says. He’s trying to get dressed with his eyes closed, like if he doesn’t open then, he’s not really awake. He trips over his sweats.

‘What makes you think it’s Nate? He hasn’t set off the alarms in weeks,’ Jo says. ‘Also, shut up.’

Zach opens his eyes just to roll them and then shuts them again. ‘My point still stands.’

It’s snowing outside. Nate is standing in the same spot as he always is, hood pulled up, hands deep in his pockets. He keeps looking over at Jo.

‘Man,’ Zach says, stamping his feet. ‘He looks like you pissed on his grandmother.’

Jo sighs.

‘I’m gonna go talk to him,’ Zach says, grinning cheerily.

‘No-- don’t-- _Zach_ ,’ Jo hisses, but he’s already gone. Jo looks up at the sky, and then turns around to show how much attention he’s not paying to that conversation.

‘Hi.’

Jo leaps about three feet in the air, and spins around. Nate is behind him, looking apologetic.

‘Hey,’ Jo says, wary, once his heart has started beating again.

‘You should probably put spaghetti on the list of things I’m not allowed to cook,’ Nate says, sheepishly.

‘I’ll… make a note,’ Jo says, but the conversation falls flat after that.

‘I’m sorry I freaked out,’ Nate says suddenly, blurting it out. Jo blinks at him.

‘I… what?’ Jo asks.

Nate turns pink. ‘You asked if we were dating. And I freaked. Because we aren’t dating.’ He pauses. ‘But I think, it would be okay if we were?’

Jo grins without meaning to. ‘Yeah?’

Nate turns ever more pink, and nods. ‘I mean, if you want to.’ He’s shifting from foot to foot. Jo catches sight of Zach in the background, cackling and very obviously listening in.

He ignores him. ‘Yeah. Yeah, I do.’

Nate grins, wide and helpless.

‘Okay,’ he says. ‘Okay. Cool. I’m gonna kiss you now, ‘kay?’

Jo nods, darts his tongue out to lick at the corner of his lips, and then the alarm stops blaring. Students start shuffling back inside quickly, eager to get out of the snow. Zach eyeballs them, before following the crowd.

Jo doesn’t know if he has his keys, or if Zach will let him back in the room, but he doesn’t really care, because Nate grips him gently by the wrist and tugs him around a corner and into a soft kiss, just a slight press of lips to his. He pulls back, biting his bottom lip a little. He looks unsure. There are snowflakes in his eyelashes, and in the hair falling into his eyes. Jo brushes it out, and leans in again.

This time, neither of them pull away until they get caught by a security warden, wandering the campus.

-

‘I don’t care how good you are at blowjobs,’ Zach says, loudly, surrounded by students. A handful of them turn to look. The rest are probably still mostly asleep, like Jo. ‘That doesn’t mean he can try and cook you surprise breakfast in return.’’

‘Oh my god,’ Jo says.

Nate flushes. He has ash on his face, and he appears to be missing part of an eyebrow.

‘It’s six am,’ Zach says. ‘I’ve been asleep for four and a half hours. We have to leave for a game in an hour and a half.’ He looks at Nate mournfully. ‘Why couldn’t you let me sleep? Just for another half hour.’

‘Sorry,’ Nate mumbles, at the same time as Jo calls Zach a drama queen, and punches him in the shoulder.

‘I’m sure breakfast would have been delicious,’ Jo says, turning to Nate, nudging at him. ‘Had it not been cremated.’

Nate looks at him. His lips twitch.

‘It’s not funny,’ Zach says, loudly. ‘It’s too early in the morning for funny, stop laughing.’ He looks at Jo, but Jo’s already cracked up. He thinks the sleep deprivation might be what’s making this so funny, but him and Nate lean against each other and laugh until Zach stops pouting at them sleepily.

When they’re finally allowed back in the building, and they’re back in Nate’s room, Jo turns to Nate as he’s pulling his hoody off and kicking his shoes into a corner. ‘Next time, maybe cereal is a good idea for a surprise breakfast, yeah?’

Nate grins, and nods, and Jo leans in for a kiss. He can feel Nate smiling, and he pulls him in closer.

They’re late for the bus to the game, and Jo doesn’t realise he’s wearing Nate’s shorts until Zach starts catcalling.

 


End file.
